Viator and other "non - O" sightseeing advice

[MnDAL]

If you book excursions other than thru O for morning departures, can you disembark at the same time as O's AM excursions or how can you guarantee you will be able to meet your 3rd party excursion?

 

Has anyone used Viators and be willing to share opinions? (I realize they act as a booking agent rather than an actual operator and that individual tours are going to vary.)

 

I have a port that shows Positano/Amalfi (anchor). Anyone know a definitive way to determine where tender will put in? 

 

TIA

[LHT28]

Tender ports  are the only ones with issues for non O tours

 you go to the lounge early with your people in tow

Get your tender ticket & wait for the call  they will sometimes let  non tour pax on the same tender with the tour pax

 

 Otherwise you just walk off when  the doors open

 

[Charles4515]

37 minutes ago, MnDAL said:

 

Has anyone used Viators and be willing to share opinions? (I realize they act as a booking agent rather than an actual operator and that individual tours are going to vary.)

Find the actual tour operator. Don’t use Viator. Don’t go through an intermediary. With the actual operator you have someone you can contact direct if there are any issues. You can find the actual operators by googling the descriptions. 

[EJL2023]

47 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

Find the actual tour operator. Don’t use Viator. Don’t go through an intermediary. With the actual operator you have someone you can contact direct if there are any issues. You can find the actual operators by googling the descriptions. 

I just used Viator three times on a recent cruise. Each of them the actual tour company reaches out after purchase and all my subsequent communications were with the actual tour companies, not Viator.  I believe they have changed how they operate from years ago.  

[Charles4515]

24 minutes ago, EJL2023 said:

I believe they have changed how they operate from years ago.  

That is a change. Have you compared the price of booking through Viator to the actual tour company? 

Edited July 15, 2023 by Charles4515

[Sny]

Check Tours by Locals.  We've had nothing but good experiences with them.  Excellent communications.

[EJL2023]

10 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

That is a change. Have you compared the price of booking through Viator to the actual tour company? 

Not really. I’ve noticed the companies listed in Viator site as the same as some I’d noted when beginning my searches for a port, etc and they were close as I recall but never actually done a side by side spreadsheet, etc.  

[sunlover12]

I've used Viator once (last year in Barcelona) and it wasn't good. One of the worst tours I've ever been on. They are an intermediary and you don't know what you're going to get. Their prices are good but cheaper doesn't mean better. I agree that you should book directly with the tour provider if possible. 

I know that I shouldn't judge based on one tour but this was my experience. 

[EJL2023]

1 minute ago, sunlover12 said:

I've used Viator once (last year in Barcelona) and it wasn't good. One of the worst tours I've ever been on. They are an intermediary and you don't know what you're going to get. Their prices are good but cheaper doesn't mean better. I agree that you should book directly with the tour provider if possible. 

I know that I shouldn't judge based on one tour but this was my experience. 

I’ve used them over 40 times and maybe had one or two less than perfect experiences but certainly nothing I’d consider horrible.  

[wegolf]

We intermix cruise line tours with Viator tours depending on price and what we want to do. We have had better experiences on Viator tours across the globe vs cruise excursions. 

[vlthom]

I've used Viator numerous times and have always had a good experience.  Usually, we are in contact with the actual tour operator who is listed on the booking information as well.  It's easy to look them up and check them out.  I've found that the pricing on Viator is comparable to what the tour operator offers, too.  For me, it's easier to use Viator if we are booking numerous independent tours as I can keep track of everything in one website/app.  There are often specials offered, or "click-thru" offers associated with using Viator which make them an attractive option for me.  Sure....I'd like 10% cash back because I clicked thru Rakuten.  Or, I'd like 10X the FF miles by clicking through an airline shopping portal.  These are things that I take into consideration as well.

[KBrote]

We rarely use Ship's excursions. I don't like riding on busses and I don't like being in a group over about 10. Plus you have no chance to customize to your personal wishes at all. Not to mention they are usually about twice the price of independently booked tours. 

 

For our upcoming 10 day Greece/Turkey cruise we have booked two tours with Tours by Locals. Both guides have contacted me and we have customized the day. We will just have the four of us that are traveling together and the cost is about 275 Euros for all four of us for full day tours. The guides communication has been great. On Crete I booked and all day tour with a private company I found while searching the web. The owner/guide has been extremely responsive and I know we will have a great day at a fraction of the cost Oceania would charge for the same 7 hour tour. We have all contact info for the guides and very specific directions for meeting right off the ship. We will do a few ports on our own and are doing 3 Oceania excursions only because we did the O Life option of 3 excursions each for $300. We only chose tours between $150 - $199 so per person the cost was almost $600 and we paid $300 each. Not too excited about the ship's tours but at least we can compare. I was also careful to pick ship's excursions in tendered ports so we know we will get off quickly.

 

I have only used Viator once while staying in Mexico City for a week a few years ago, We had a positive experience with a great guide but we were just meeting outside a museum, not getting off a cruise ship. I will tell you that reputable guides will be very used to meeting passengers at the ship. They keep track of the schedulers and the docking locations. Their business depends on it. I would not hesitate to book independently, or use Viator, instead of Ship's excursions. 

[kibutzer]

3 hours ago, MnDAL said:

If you book excursions other than thru O for morning departures, can you disembark at the same time as O's AM excursions or how can you guarantee you will be able to meet your 3rd party excursion?

 

Has anyone used Viators and be willing to share opinions? (I realize they act as a booking agent rather than an actual operator and that individual tours are going to vary.)

 

I have a port that shows Positano/Amalfi (anchor). Anyone know a definitive way to determine where tender will put in? 

 

TIA

Suggest you also post on ports of call, and on roll call you are on. Viator is very different based on country and tour. 

[Elbig]

FYI.  We have had very good experiences with Tours by Locals. 

[YourWorldWithBill]

7 hours ago, Charles4515 said:

Find the actual tour operator. Don’t use Viator. Don’t go through an intermediary. With the actual operator you have someone you can contact direct if there are any issues. You can find the actual operators by googling the descriptions. 

Just to add my similar experience: I find the tour I want through Viator (or TripAdvisor) and then just email the actual tour operator. Much easier and smoother; let's say you want to ask about something on the tour, or if it's possible to make an adjustment. Or just need to contact them for any reason.

[grmmybtty]

I booked a day cruise in Halong Bay through Tripadvisor rather than the actual company because they wanted 30% no refund deposit. TripAdvisor had the same price, but no deposit and cancel within 48 hours of the excursion. I have booked many tours through both Viator and TripAdvisor without problems.

[cruisemom42]

I've had several bad experiences booking tours through Viator as a middle-man. Examples:

 

-- Rome: Tour was canceled due to lack of participation but no one bothered to contact me about it until I showed up at the tour start location. Local contact was less than helpful and did not want to refund my tour, rather they wanted to book me on another of their tours that went to places I'd already visited.

 

-- Barcelona:  Took a tour that was supposed to visit three places over an 8 hour tour period. One of the three stops was dropped and no explanation was provided. At one of the two other stops, where the guide was supposed to give us a tour, we were dropped off on our own, guide disappeared and never showed up again until it was time to depart.

 

-- Lisbon:  Booked a tour and ended up with three different language groups. Guide gave entire spiel in three different languages at each stop. Fellow passengers were not quiet as guide spoke in other two languages, so little was heard. No warning was provided that this might happen.

 

I am more interested in having a good (and RELIABLE) experience than in ensuring I have a refund if it doesn't go well. I travel often, but for others the moment is lost if their tour is lousy on their one-time visit to Lisbon.

 

I've often paid more than the cost of a ship excursion for an excellent guide and for an "experience". I won't use Viator (or any middle man) again if there are any other options.

 

[GeezerCouple]

We almost always book our own excursions (whether during a cruise or a land trip), and NEVER through a third party.  We use Google, and then read between the lines, etc.

 

Then we email the guide/provider directly.  We ask about specifics, and often arrange a custom itinerary.  We also ask something like, "Given what we've been discussing, are there any other suggestions you have about anything you think we might especially enjoy?"  That often isn't really useful, but occasionally, the guide will indeed suggest something that is a really nice surprise, something we hadn't thought about, didn't know about, or didn't realize was available, etc.

 

And this advance discussion will show very quickly if the guide is really engaged... do they really care what *we* want to see, or are we likely to be just another cookie cutter outing/people/etc.?

We've found remarkable tour guides this way, all over.

 

Sometimes we'll book something that would have extra space for others, such as a half- or full-day charter of a large catamaran.  Then we might post it on the Roll Call, and that's led to some really pleasant small groups, and people we then enjoy seeing on the ship or dining with throughout the rest of the cruise.

 

But we want to decide what to see and how much time to spend at each sight/place/etc., or perhaps to skip something entirely, or to add something completely different.  And there's no waiting for laggards (and also no worrying if I need to rest; we aren't delaying anyone else).

 

GC

[YourWorldWithBill]

Here's an example of what @GeezerCoupleis describing: we were in Athens for a couple of days before embarking on a cruise. I found a company I liked through TripAdvisor and started an email exchange with the owner. He was remarkably obliging, structuring a tour exactly as we wanted, to see what we wanted to see, etc. I couldn't have done that through a third party. And the price was extremely reasonable, certainly no more than we would have paid if not direct.

[EJL2023]

I recently had two tours booked through Viator in Athens. On one the tour guide contacted me and advised if we wanted to push the starting time back a few hours to catch the sight at sunset he would be happy to do so or we could continue as originally planned. On another day we had a guide for our private tour who was amazing. Our scheduled 7 hour tour ended up nearly 10 hours as he continued to offer taking us to additional sites. It was probably the best tour I’ve ever had in my travels. Bottomline, regardless if you go through a third party or not you can still have a great experience if you do your homework. There is no best way, whichever works best for you and what you feel most comfortable with doing and it is not the same for everyone.  There is no such thing as a 100% guarantee on a perfect tour every time whether through a third party or directly with the touring company, or for most anything.  Happy touring. 

Edited July 16, 2023 by EJL2023

[cruisemom42]

No, there is no such thing as a guarantee, but I prefer to do my own legwork and research and feel comfortable that things are aligned as I would wish rather than take the word of an intermediary.  Clearly others have also not had great experiences with Viator. That alone would make me leery of using them if I could find an alternative.

 

[EJL2023]

1 minute ago, cruisemom42 said:

No, there is no such thing as a guarantee, but I prefer to do my own legwork and research and feel comfortable that things are aligned as I would wish rather than take the word of an intermediary.  Clearly others have also not had great experiences with Viator. That alone would make me leery of using them if I could find an alternative.

 

🤙🏻
 

 

 

[alcpa1]

We've had mixed excursions with Viator over the years. When we do our extensive excursion planning I go to multiple sites. Some guides work for multiple third party vendors. Check out Tours by Locals and Get Your Guide. 

On a March-April Portugal/Spain itinerary we used three different vendors but our best two tours by far were with Get Your Guide.

[D. B.]

I find tours by locals to expensive for my budget and have used Viator many time and had some great experiences.

Shorexcursions.com is also a good non cruise line option and they have the same miss the boat  guarantee as the cruise lines. But their cancel deadline is 2 weeks before the excursion.

my advice is to only book anything that should get you back Way before the ship sails to be safe.

[Sebbiesgrammy]

19 hours ago, Sny said:

Check Tours by Locals.  We've had nothing but good experiences with them.  Excellent communications.

Ditto. We love Tours by Locals and have had amazing experiences with them in various parts of the globe.